The Walking Dead Midseason Finale Reveals a Shocking Deadly Twist

When we predicted who might bite the bullet in tonight's midseason finale of The Walking Dead, Carl (Chandler Riggs) wasn't even on our list. And yet here we find ourselves facing a future with no Carl at all, because he's been bitten. And according to executive producer Scott M. Gimple on Talking Dead, "it will play out as bites play out on the show."

Typically, 90% of the time, bites play out on this show by killing whoever is in possession of them. So bye bye Carl...eventually.

Gimple explained that he was treading lightly because Carl's not dead yet.

"It's very important to Carl's story and the entire story, what happens in the next episode," Gimple said. "So I'm just focused on the fact that Carl, right now, is alive, and he has some business to attend to. That is a one way ticket, but I'd like to think the things that we see in the next episode are so important to his life and other character's lives..."

So for now, Carl is still alive, and he's still got things to do. But it doesn't look like there's much hope for him, especially considering that his side can't really be amputated. Plus, Riggs told THR that "Carl is going to die."

We really should have known throughout the entire episode, as Carl took charge, even offering to die to help save the others (even though it was just a clever plan to help everyone else escape) from the terror of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), but we just really were not expecting to see that bite, or to see Carl die in that way.

It's an especially big twist considering that Carl, an original member of the group from all the way back in the pilot, is still alive and well in the comics. But at least we know that if anyone ever really misses him, they'll always have the comics to go back to.